Protections Against Trafficking In Persons In Federal Contracts, 9918-9919 [2013-03142]

Agencies

• DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE
• General Services Administration
• National Aeronautics and Space Administration

[Federal Register Volume 78, Number 29 (Tuesday, February 12, 2013)]
[Notices]
[Pages 9918-9919]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2013-03142]


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DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE

GENERAL SERVICES ADMINISTRATION

NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION

[Notice-MVC-2013-01; Docket 2013-0081; Sequence 1]


Protections Against Trafficking In Persons In Federal Contracts

AGENCY: Department of Defense (DoD), General Services Administration 
(GSA), and National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).

ACTION: Notice of a public meeting and request for comments.

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SUMMARY: The Federal Acquisition Regulatory Council (FAR Council) is 
issuing this notice to announce a public meeting and request for 
comment on the implementation of Executive Order (E.O.) 13627, 
Strengthening Protections Against Trafficking In Persons In Federal 
Contracts, and Title XVII of the National Defense Authorization Act, 
Public Law 112-239, the End Trafficking In Government Contracting Act 
(ETGCA). Feedback will be used to help inform the development of 
regulations and other guidance to implement the E.O. and new statutory 
provisions and strengthen existing prohibitions on trafficking in 
persons (``TIP'').
    Interested parties may offer oral and/or written comments at a 
public meeting to be held on March 5, 2013. Parties are also encouraged 
to provide all written comments directly to www.regulations.gov.

DATES: A public meeting will be conducted on March 5, 2013, at 9:00 
a.m. eastern time.
    Pre-Registration: The public is asked to pre-register by February 
25, 2013, due to security and seating limitations. To pre-register, 
please send an email to Ms. Deborah Lague of the General Services 
Administration (GSA) at deborah.lague@gsa.gov. The pre-registration 
request should include the first and last name of the attendee(s), and, 
if applicable, company or organization name. Registration check-in will 
begin at 8:00 a.m. eastern time and the meeting will start at 9:00 a.m. 
eastern time and conclude by 12:00 p.m. eastern time. Attendees must be 
prepared to present a form of government issued photo identification.
    Oral Public Comments: Parties wishing to make formal oral 
presentations at the public meeting must contact Ms. Deborah Lague by 
electronic mail at deborah.lague@gsa.gov no later than February 25, 
2013, to be placed on the public speaker list. Time allocations for 
oral presentations will be limited to five minutes. All formal oral 
public comments should also be followed-up in writing and submitted to 
www.regulations.gov. When submitting your comments, search for 
``Notice-MVC-2013-01'' and reference ``Public Comments on Protections 
Against Trafficking in Persons''. Note: Requests made after the 
deadline for formal oral presentations will be permitted as time 
permits and assigned based on the order the requests are received.
    Written Comments/Statements: In lieu of, or in addition to, 
participating in the public meeting, interested parties may submit 
written comments to www.regulations.gov by March 12, 2013. When 
submitting your comments, search for ``Notice-MVC-2013-01'' and 
reference ``Public Comments on Protections Against TIP.'' Parties 
wishing to share written statements at the public meeting must submit 
such statements to Ms. Deborah Lague at deborah.lague@gsa.gov by 
February 25, 2013.

ADDRESSES: The public meeting will be held at the General Services 
Administration Auditorium located at 1800 F Street NW., Washington, DC, 
20405.
    Meeting Accommodations: The public meeting is physically accessible 
to people with disabilities. Request for sign language interpretation 
or other auxiliary aids should be directed to Ms. Lague at 
deborah.lague@gsa.gov or 202-694-8149 by February 25, 2013.
    The TTY number for further information is: 1-800-877-8339. When the 
operator answers the call, let them know the agency is the General 
Services Administration; the point-of-contact is Deborah Lague at 
202.694-8149.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ms. Marissa Petrusek, GSA, Procurement 
Analyst, at 202-501-0136, for clarification of content. For public 
meeting information and submission of comment, contact Ms. Deborah 
Lague, GSA, at 202-694-8149 or deborah.lague@gsa.gov.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: More than 20 million men, women, and 
children throughout the world are victims of severe forms of 
trafficking in persons, defined in section 103 of the Trafficking 
Victims Protection Act (TVPA) to include the recruitment, harboring, 
transportation, provision, or obtaining of a person for labor or 
services, through the use of force, fraud, or coercion, for the purpose 
of subjection to involuntary servitude, peonage, debt bondage, or 
slavery as well as sex trafficking. As the largest single purchaser of 
goods and services in the world, the Federal Government bears a 
responsibility to ensure that taxpayer dollars do not contribute to 
trafficking.
    The United States has long had a zero-tolerance policy regarding 
Government employees and contractor personnel engaging in any form of 
this criminal behavior. FAR Subpart 22.17 codifies the zero tolerance 
policy. It provides for the use of a clause that requires contractors 
and subcontractors to notify government employees of trafficking 
violations and puts parties on notice that the government may impose 
remedies, including termination, for failure to comply with the 
requirements.
    Recent studies of TIP, including findings made by the Commission on 
Wartime Contracting and agency Inspectors General, pointed to the need 
for strengthened guidance and tools to address TIP. Both E.O. 13627, 
issued on September 25, 2012, and the ETGCA, which became law on 
January 2, 2013, create a stronger framework for agency prevention of 
trafficking by, among other things, (i) clarifying what constitutes 
trafficking or trafficking-related activities in the Federal supply 
chain, (ii) requiring contractors in

[[Page 9919]]

certain circumstances to maintain compliance plans to help ensure their 
employees do not engage in, or become complicit to, human trafficking 
in their supply chain, and (iii) establishing requirements for training 
the Federal acquisition workforce.
    For example, E.O. 13627:
     Expressly prohibits Federal contractors, contractor 
employees, subcontractors and subcontractor employees from (i) failing 
to disclose basic information or making material misrepresentations 
regarding the key terms, location, and conditions of employment, (ii) 
charging employees recruitment fees, (iii) destroying or denying access 
to an employee's identify documents, and (iv) failing to pay return 
transportation costs, with certain exceptions, where work is performed 
outside the United States and the employee is not a national of the 
country in which the work is taking place and who was brought into that 
country for the purpose of working on a U.S. Government contract or 
subcontract;
     Directs that for portions of contract and subcontract work 
(other than commercially available off-the-shelf items) performed 
outside the United States where the estimated value of the work 
performed abroad exceeds $500,000, federal contractors and 
subcontractors shall maintain an appropriate compliance program during 
the performance of the contract or subcontract, which shall include: an 
awareness program for employees, a process for employees to report 
trafficking-related legal violations, a wage and housing plan in 
applicable circumstances, and procedures to promote compliance by their 
subcontractors;
     Requires covered contractors and subcontractors to 
certify, both before receiving a contract and annually thereafter 
during the term of the contract or subcontract, to their maintenance of 
a compliance plan and their lack of engagement in (or remediation and 
referral of) any trafficking related activities; and
     Directs federal contracting officers to provide 
notification of trafficking-related violations by contractors or 
subcontractors to agency Inspectors General and agency officials 
responsible for suspension and debarment actions.
    E.O. 13627 also instructs the Administrator for Federal Procurement 
Policy to develop guidance to assist agencies in training the Federal 
acquisition workforce regarding the anti-trafficking obligations of 
contractors and subcontractors.
    Many similar (but not identical) provisions are contained in the 
ETGCA. In addition, the ETGCA amends title 18 of the United States Code 
to extend criminal prohibitions against fraudulent labor practices, 
including trafficking, to contractors and subcontractors overseas. 
Effective implementation of the trafficking safeguards provided by E.O. 
13627 and the ETGCA will increase stability, productivity, and 
certainty in federal contracting and avoid the disruption and disarray 
caused by the use of trafficked labor and resulting investigative and 
enforcement actions.
    The FAR Council seeks public comment on the most effective and 
least burdensome approaches for implementing E.O. 13627 and the ETGCA 
(which it currently plans to implement through one rulemaking). The 
input will be considered during the rulemaking process as the FAR 
Council develops and refines amendments to FAR Subpart 22.7 and other 
relevant FAR parts to address these actions.
    The Council especially welcomes public comment on the following 
issues:
    1. Focus of guidance. What requirements do you think are in 
greatest need of guidance to ensure the goals of E.O. 13627 and the 
ETGCA are met and what guidance do you recommend?
    2. Contractor practices. Studies indicate that a number of private 
sector companies have established, or are in the process of 
establishing, codes of conduct to eliminate trafficked labor from their 
supply chains.
    a. If you are a contractor, do you already have a code of conduct 
or plan that addresses trafficked labor? If so, what behavior does it 
address and what controls does it require? Does your entity perform a 
significant amount of work overseas? Based on your reading of E.O. 
13627 and the ETGCA, what actions do you envision having to take as a 
government contractor (or subcontractor) beyond what you already are 
doing to be in compliance with these new requirements?
    b. Either based on experience or research of the marketplace, what 
practices are most effective in prohibiting TIP by contractor and 
subcontractor employees? What practices will help contractor and 
subcontractor employees comply with the requirements of E.O. 13627 and 
the ETGCA?
    3. Oversight. E.O. 13627 requires federal contractors and 
subcontractors to allow contracting agencies and other responsible 
enforcement agencies to have reasonable access to conduct audits, 
investigations, and other compliance activities. This provision is 
modeled after a similar requirement in E.O. 13126, which established 
requirements to ensure that federal agencies do not procure goods made 
by forced or indentured child labor. Have you had any experiences with 
the application of audits under E.O. 13126 that the Council should be 
aware of as it develops its implementing guidance?
    4. Burden considerations. Both E.O. 13627 and the ETGCA make clear 
that plans and procedures shall be appropriate to the size and 
complexity of the contract and to the nature and scope of activities to 
be performed. As the Council develops regulations to implement this 
guiding principle and evaluates burden associated with potential 
guidance, it seek input on the following--
    a. What are the types of personnel that you would anticipate being 
involved in developing and maintaining compliance plans and 
certifications (e.g., compliance officers, attorneys, human capital 
specialists)?
    b. What do you view to be the most significant drivers of cost in 
developing and maintaining the plan (e.g., general corporate 
governance; and
    c. What assumptions should the Council make about the amount of 
labor hours and associated costs required to meet the contractor 
responsibilities in E.O. 13627 and the law?

    Dated: February 6, 2013.
William Clark,
Acting Director, Federal Acquisition Policy Division, Office of 
Governmentwide Acquisition Policy, Office of Acquisition Policy, Office 
of Governmentwide Policy.
[FR Doc. 2013-03142 Filed 2-11-13; 8:45 am]
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